BRASS OF "CHRYSOM CHILD," A.D. 1520,
CHESHAM Bois CHURCH, co. BUCKS.

THE PARISH

REGISTER io

iJL n i^j" H_

BY

WILLIAM BRADBROOK, M.R.C.S.

1910
CHAS. A. BERNAU, WALTON-ON-THAMES, ENGLAND

Wholesale Agents

SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & Co., LTD.,
LONDON

DUNN, COLLIN & CO.,

PRINTERS,
ST. MARY AXE, LONDON, B.C.

RIGHTS RESERVED.-]

THIS ESSAY

IS INSCRIBED, BY KIND PERMISSION,
TO

THE REV. EDWARD COOKSON, M.A..
OF IPSWICH,

TO WHOM THE WRITER IS DEEPLY OBLIGED FOR
GENEROUS HELP AND SUGGESTION.

The Parish Register.

The registration of bap-
Chronological ,. . . « . *

tisms, marriages and bunals

in England was first intro-
duced by Sir Thomas Cromwell in 27
Henry VIII. (1535), but temporarily aban-
doned because of the opposition excited.

T538- (30 Henry VIII.) The project suc-
cessfully initiated.

1552. Injunctions to this end repeated, and
also in 1558.

I555- Cardinal Pole ordered the addition
of sponsors' names to the baptismal
entries.

I597- (39 Bliz.) All registers ordered to
be copied on to parchment, and
transcripts made annually, of the
previous year's entries and sent to
the Bishops' registries, and regula-
tions formulated for their safe
keeping. 25th Oct., 1597.

6 The Parish

1603. (i Jac. I.). The yoth Canon of the
Church affirmed the preceeding.

1645. (20 Car. L)- The Directory of Public
Worship directed the dates of
births and deaths (as well as dates
of baptism and burial) to be
recorded.

1649-1660. During this period many registers
were imperfectly kept.

1653. 22nd Sept. The election by the

parishioners of the " parish
register" was enacted.

1654. 2Qth Sept. Civil marriage by magis-

trate ordered. These marriages
were legalized (1660) 12 Car. II.
c- 33-

1660. (12 Car. II.). The Restoration of
the King, and the evicted and
persecuted clergy.

1667. Burial in woollen enacted. 19 Car. II.

1678. Burial in woollen more strigently
enacted. 30 Car. II.

1698. Duties on register entries imposed
for five years. 6 & 7 Will. III.
(1694-8).

Register

1711. Proper register books with ruled and
numbered pages ordered. 10 Anne.

I735- 9 Geo- H- "The law now forbids
ye keeping any records in Latin,
etc." (Clyst St. George.)

1752. 25 Geo. II. New style calendar

ordered by law.

1753. 26 Geo. II. Hardwicke's. Marriage

Act (took effect 25th March, 1754).

1783. 23 Geo. III. c. 71. Duty of 3d.
imposed on each entry in register.

1794. 34 Geo. III. Duty repealed.
1801. First Governmental census.

1812. 52 Geo. III. c. 146. Rose's Act
placed registers under control of
Registrar General, new system
introduced necessitating special
books of uniform design.

1814. The Woollen Acts of Charles II.
repealed.

1831. Ivist of registers compiled by order.

1837. ist July. The present system of
Civil Registration began.

8 The Parish

1896. The Parish Register Society started.
Annual subscription 2i/-. Hon.
Sec., K. A. Fry, 124, Chancery
L,ane.

This compilation being a descriptive
account, with suggestions about the study,
of parish registers, the foregoing chrono-
logical table will supply all the historical
material necessary, and a fuller notice will
not be needed, as many of the items are
referred to in the following pages.

The Parish Register is

-, , . in the custody of the Parson

Chargeable '

of the parish, and can only

be seen and consulted by his permission, for
which he is entitled to charge certain fees,
viz. : i/- for the first year searched, and 6d.
for each succeeding year; also 2/7 for each
certified copy of any entry in addition to the
search fee, i.e., 2/6 for the certificate and id.
for the stamp ; therefore each certificate will
cost 3/7 at least, the document must be
signed by the Incumbent or officiating

Register

priest in charge of the parish : a certificate, ;
attested by the parish clerk or church-
warden is valueless. A properly signed
certificate is received as evidence in Courts
of Law, in spite of the doubt expressed by
Lord Eldon as to the reliability of the
registers, and the opinion of Lord Rosslyn
that none of the registers had been kept
according to law, and, therefore, all should
be rejected as evidence.

As insistence on the
Inclusive aboye feeg would amount

Charge for . , , .,.,.

_ ' to a practical prohibition on

Literary

Research antiquarian and _ genea-
logical research, it is advis-
able for the investigator to attempt an
agreement with the Parson for a lower and
inclusive charge for a search, with power to
take notes and extracts, certificates being,
of course, an extra at the legal charge.
This is not difficult to do (parsons are a
kindly and reasonable race) ; the writer, in a

10

The Parish

tolerably large experience, has never met
with any difficulty, but has found, without
exception, that the clergy has always been
most obliging, and readily given every
facility to a bond fide and properly accredited
person. When the searcher's object is
literary and not personal, most parsons will
make a nominal charge or allow free access ;
and, again, the writer cannot express too
emphatically his gratitude and obligations
to the many clergymen who have afforded
him help and encouragement.

In arranging for a search,

always write beforehand to
to Arrange . _ . - .

» « to the Parson informing him

for a Search

of your object, giving refer-
ences and agreeing on the date, time and
place for the visit, and never neglect to enclose
a stamped and directed envelope for reply.
As the incumbent might be from home and
another in temporary charge, it is as well,
to avoid delay, to address a letter on business

Register

to the " Incumbent" or the "Officiating
Minister," and mark the envelope: Imme-
diate, Parish Business.

MARRIAGES, WEDDINGS, MATRIMONIES,

ETC.

Entries of marriage show
Marriage .

_ , . less variation in registral

Entries

form than either baptisms

or burials : two names and a date is the
simplest and most usual, to be amplified
occasionally with information as to the
bachelordom, spinsterdom, or otherwise of
the contracting parties, the parishes from
whence they come, and the circumstances of
the wedding, whether after banns or by
licence, and sometimes details of rank or
occupation. Consistent with registration at
all nothing can be simpler and balder than : —

1541. Oct. 6th. Robte Parrarde to Ursula
Tokelowe. (Ipswich.)

12

The Parish

1584. Nov. 25th. John Shakspere and
Margery Roberts. (Stratford-on-
Avon.)

1599. Oct. 30th. Henry Kelburne copulatus
est matrimonalit cu Anna Fauxe.
(Farnham.) (The conspirator's
sister.)

1652. Dec. 30th. John Bedford and An
Anderson. God send her wel de-
livered at child-bearing. (Bishop
Middlehain.)

1747. Oct. 6th. James Hunt and Jane
Harris. (Inkberrow.)

Specimens of extra detail are : —

J572- June. Willielmus Jurden accepit,
etc., annam Castle in hoc mense
in quo die aut loco nescio. (Ship-
ton.)

1605. The xxviiith maii were maried John
Wittins the yonger of Weeke and
Margarett Hardinge the dough ter
of Robert Hardinge of upto 1605.
(Bitton.)

1621. May i st. Willia. Water, husb. and
Elizabeth Has well. (Bishop
Middleham.)

Register 13

1737. Nov. I3th. William Nash and Diana
Hadon by Licence. (Dodderhill.)

Extra verbosity or detail

is usually only found in
expressed by , . . ^

_T , . ' entries concerning the great
Verbosity

families : —

The Right Honourable L,orde John Russell
and the Renoumbned Lady Eliza-
beth Hobbey, maried 23rd Dec.,
1574. (Bisham.)

The three and twentieth day of ffebruarii
Anno Domi 1606 complet — was
maried Maister Anthony Pell
sonne and heire of Sr- Richard Pell
of Gran th am in the County of
of Lyncolne knight and Mrs.
Elizbeath Willoughbey theldest
Daughter unto Sr- William Wil-
loughbey knight of Great Marlow
in the Countie of Buck between
the howers of IX and XI in the
forenoone by vertue of a Lycence
granted out of the Courte of the
ftaculties of Canter. (Great
Marlow.)

J4 The Parish

During the Common-
Common- wealth (l654_l66o) mar.

wealth . i t V * *.

„ . riages were celebrated by

Marriages * '

Justices of the Peace after

notice had been given publicly on three
successive market days, and the entries
though verbose do not as a rule give more
real information than the simplest forms
quoted above.

Be it remembered that Thomas Clarke and
Marie Collett both of the pish, of
Monkfriston hath come before me
John Ward of Tanchill in the
County of Yorke Esquire one of
the Justices of the Peace for the
West Ridinge and were married
accordinge to the Act in that case
made the thirteenth day of Januarii
1654. Jo.Warde. (Monk Fryston.)

The date in the last example relates to
the marriage not to the Act of Parliament.

The next specimen contains more in-
formation, and also shows the religious bias
of the time ; —

Register 15

Be it remembered that upon three severall
Lords dayes the ayth of May the
3rd the icih of June 1655 the pub-
lication of An Intended Mariage
betwixt John Shaw of Upton in
ye parish of Headon and Anne
Skeath of the same towne and
Countie singlewoman was publised
at ye parish Church of Headon at
close of the morning exercise and
there was no exceptions to the
contrary. Thomas Allison parish
Register.

Bee it remembered that upon the 2th day of
July 1655 the sollemnizacon of
mariage betweene John Shaw of
Upton Loborer and Anne Skeath
of the same singlewoman was
sollemnized before me Edward
Neville Esq. one of the Justice of
the Peace for this County according
to the late Act of Parliamt touching
mariage wittnesses Edward Shaw
& Robt. Skeath. Edw. Neville.
(Headon.)

i6 The Parish

Unregistered Ularges °CCa'

Marriage sionally escaped registration
may be surmised from the
following : —

MEM. — This seventh day of October, 1724,
I marry'd William Daniel of
Whaddon and Alice Fowler of Cal-
verton (banns being duly published)
at Tattenho Chapel, where there
was no register. (Calverton.)

Mention is rarely made of forbidden
banns, but an instance here follows.

Forbidden " Ifc is to be remembered

P that the banns were publicly

forbid in the Church by
(blank) Morphew, spinster of this parish, but
upon her being then publicly told from the
Desk how she must proceed according to
the Kubrick, she was advised, it seems, by
some to take another method to hinder this
man's marriage, and prove herself with
child by him before Justice Pay ton, tho'
in the end it appeared she was not."

Married, Joseph Benge and Betty L,iew,
Nov. 1 4th, 1732 (Merstharn).

Register I7

So Joseph Benge married the woman of
his choice after all, though accused of yield-
ing to a temptation from which his namesake
fled.

__ , . , The social confusion

Hardwicke s , . , «_

,_ . and uncertainty caused by

Marriage Act / /

the irregularities and facili-
ties for contracting matrimony and the
scandal arising therefrom led to the passing
of Hardwicke's Marriage Act, 26 Geo. II.
After this Act became law the parishes had
to provide a Marriage Book, containing
printed forms for the uniform registration
of banns and weddings. The prescribed
form was, however, imperfect, and beyond
providing spaces for the signatures of the
contracting parties, two witnesses and the
officiating clergyman, made no arrangements
for recording the essential genealogical
details of parents' names, nor occupation,
nor age, unless one or both of the parties
was a minor.

i8 The Parish

The following is a reminder of the
irregular marriages which brought about
Hardwicke's Act : —

1714. July 25th. Henry Cooper and Mary
Sisly were married at ye Fleet,
London, by Thos. Pretty, who
dwells at ye next door to ye Plow
in ye Old Bayly. (Newenden.)

"Mock of the Church,"
"Mock of i. r

AI_ «i_ ^ » l-e-> when from some cause,
the Church" '

such as forbidden banns,

marriage did not proceed, a fine was paid
by one of the parties, e.g. : —

1805. July 2ist, 28th, Aug. 4th. Banns
between Joseph Howes, w., and
Mary Hurley, single woman, for-
bidden and the mock of the
Church paid by the man. (S. Cle-
ments, Ipswich), etc.

Up to the date of Hard-
Marriages wicke,s Actj marriage by

an ordained clergyman of
Banns or „... 1 c TA -, j

the Church of England
Licence 1 .

without banns or licence

Register i9

was valid, but irregular; the contracting
parties were liable to ecclesiastical censure
and the clergyman to punishment. But
when the clerk in Holy Orders had neither
liberty, reputation nor money to lose, episco-
pal displeasure had no terrors for him, and
the criminous clerks in durance vile drove a
positively roaring matrimonial trade. The
disreputable and bankrupt clergymen incar-
cerated in the Fleet Prison

„ made that place notorious

Marriages

for the ease and celerity with

which secret or furtive marriage was con-
tracted. The incumbents of certain churches
also achieved fees and fame in the same nefar-
ious manner ; particularly the Rector of St.
James, Dukes Place, Aid gate, London, who
claimed " exemption from ecclesiastical
jurisdiction," and, ignoring preliminaries of
banns or licence, married all and sundry
without demur or delay, and on iyth Feb.,
1686, was suspended from his clerical

2O

The Parish

functions for three years as a punishment for
his obliquities.

It is in the register ot
The " Third

Dukes Place that we find a

Marriag? " third party," that is to say,

after 1678 a third name
occurs in every marriage entry after that of the
bride, the name is always that of a man with
the contraction "Fr." appended, which prob-
ably means " father," and indicated that the
individual if not actually the father acted in
loco par entis, e.g. : —

Francis Windum, Esq., and Sarah Dayrell, s.,
Thomas Walker. 27th Mar., 1679.

The third name as occurring in this
register is probably unique, and in many
instances must be that of a relation and
therefore of genealogical importance.

The Parish of Trinity, Minories, claimed
an " exemption " similar to that claimed by
the Dukes Place establishment, and was
celebrated in like manner : between 1676
and 1692, 12,000 couples were there united

Register 2i

indissolubly. Mayfair Chapel was another
of these " emergency" matrimonial factories.

(t . Most of the large inns

Marriage .^ the wberties of the Fket

Shops" .

served as marriage shops

between 1734 and 1749, among the most
famous were the " Wheatsheaf," " Bull and
Garter," " Hoop and Bunch of Grapes,"
" Bishop Blaize and Two Sawyers," " The
Fighting Cocks," etc., etc.

People were nearly always baptised
where they were born, and most usually
buried where they fell, but when it came to
getting married they very often exercised a
capricious choice, they do so in these days ;
the practice may be an inherited remanet of
pre-historic marriage by " capture," which
led so many men to marry their wives at a
place where neither had any tie nor associa-
tion. It is quite apparent
Popular .

„, „ that certain places were

Churches for

Marriages more popular than others
for wedding purposes. One

23 The Parish

is often struck by the disproportionate few-
ness of marriage entries in some large
registers, and is inclined to think that our
forebears either forgot or ignored the
ceremony, but for the fact that other registers
show a high proportion of the same.

Out of 275 consecutive
Wedded , . . TTT -...

, entries in Weddington

Weddington re?ister IJ5 are Beddings,
chiefly strangers, who may
have been attracted thither on account of
its propitious name. In Misterton register
(near gutter worth) up to 1753 the average
of baptisms is four or five annually, but
the average of marriages is nearly three,
between 1650 and 1679 there were 170 bap-
tisms and 75 weddings. Pitchcott (Bucks)
shows a similar condition, and at Little
Brickhill, in the same County, a small village
situated on Watling Street, the large number
of marriages is also noticeable ; couples
resorted thither not only from circumjacent

Register 23

parishes but from far distant places. The
metropolitan emergency matrimonial fac-
tories jnst alluded to need no further mention,
and the modern popularity
Phillimore's of certain Condon churches,
e.g., St. George's, Hanover
Register Square, is well known. The
Series . , c

wisdom and expediency of

Mr. Phillimore's " Marriage Register Series"
is fully justified, and the value of printing
such records as the " Gretna Green"
marriage books, and those of other like
places cannot be over estimated by the
genealogist.

Singular Mar- Specimen entries, in-
riage Entries. terestmg from their singu-
larity, are : —

1591. On Satterd the XVIth of October
Nicholas Bamford and Johane
Cooke of the parishe of Upton
Snodsburie were marryed at St.
Andrews in the Citie of Worcester
by Mr. Clement Tasker Mynstr-

24 The Parish

there by a Lycens obtayned from
the Ordinary, the Banns beinge
but once published in this Parish
Church, wch was the Xth daie of
October before, for what secreat
cause God kn owe the. (Churchill.)

1653. Sept. 28th. George and Elizabeth
servants of Raph and Robert
Mazon. (Bishop Middleham.)

1668. Greens maid of Shenley and one of
Whodden married Aprill 6th.
(Stony Stratford.)

1766. Dec. 1 7th. Matthew Dodd and

Elinor Foster —
This morning I have put a Tye
No man could put it faster
'Tween Matthew Dodd, the man of God,
And modest Nelly Foster.

(Melverley.)

Nov. 14111. 1736. Resolved in full vestry, that
Mr. Henry Stowel have a month's
time allowed him to bring a true
and legal certificate to this Vestry
from the Clergyman that married
him and where he is to be found
before we give him trouble in
Drs> Commons. (Mersthatn.)

Register 25

It is not uncommon to find entered in
the register a statement of the times and
seasons during which the Church forbad

" Honorabile est inter quosvis conjugium et
cubile impolutum. Scortatores
autem c adulteros damnabit Detis."
(Stoke Hammond.)

QUIS HOMO HIC EST ? QUO PATRE NATUS ?

(HOR.)

BAPTISMS, BAPTISMATA, BAPTIZATA,
RENATA, CHRYSTENINGS, ETC.

Under one or other of
Baptisms

the above headings were

recorded the infant arrivals on " the stage of
fools." During the i6th century the baptis-
mal register was a more comprehensive
record than subsequently, for the activities
of the various sects which arose and de-
veloped during the lyth century made the
parish register defective as a record of births ;

26 The Parish

religious or anti-religious prejudice causing
many to abstain from the sacrament of
baptism. The baptismal entries vary much
more in wording and in the amount of in-
formation conveyed than either the weddings
or burials; the simplest form giving the
minimum of information is : —

1588. June gth. The child e of a poore
vagrant woman bapt. (Boughton-
under-Blean.)

The next instance does give at least a
name : —

1556. Jan. 27th. A child of Robert
Welshe bapt. (Bruton.)

The following tells the sex of the
infant : —

I539» IQth 9ct* J°^n Kitriche bap.
(S. Nicholas, Ipswich.)

Examples of the more usual forms
are: —

1564. April 26th. Guliemus filius Johannis
Shakspere bapt. (Stratford-on-
Avon.)

Register 27

1657. Bapt. Antonius films Thomae Brough
septimo die Juni. (Kirk Blla.)

1682. William s. of William Shakespere of
I,owstonford bapt. Oct. iQth.
(Rowington.)

1691. Mary the d. of Edward Wells bapt.
Feb. i5th. (Rowington.)

1578. Hardolphe Wastnes, sone and heir of
Geruase Wastnes, esqr>j was bap-
tised ye 25th day of January.
(Headon.)

1751. Wm., s. of James and Jane Hunt.
May ist. Bapt. (Inkberrow.)

1762. Sept. 1 9th. Joseph, son of William
and Diana Nash. Bapt. (Dod-
derhill.)

1791. April 5th. Samuel, s. of Joseph and
Sarah Nash, of Causey Meadows.
Bapt. (Dodderhill.)

The above demonstrate
Increase . «*«•;,? c -, ^ •,

.. a gradual addition of detail ;

the mother's name appears,
also place of abode, but anything so full of
information as the next example is not very
common, and seen in only a few registers,

28 The Parish

and then only for a few years and at a late
period : —

1753. Daniel Hobbs Wells, the son of Mr.
Edward Wells, of Eaton, Shop-
keeper, and of Sarah his wife,
was baptized. (Bletchley.)

In the last we find an early example of
double baptismal name, names of both
parents, occupation and address. The
respectful prefix " Mr." is worth notice, it
was not bestowed on every man then ; though
only a village shop-keeper, Mr. Wells was
a son of the geographer, the Rev. Dr. Edw.
Wells, Rector of Bletchley. (See D.N.B.)

The next is a rare instance of the mention
of three generations : —

1640. Jan. 5th. John S. of Jo. Hutcheson
wch was ye sonne of Richerd
Hutcheson & Elizab. his wife.
(Bishop Middleham.)

Inclusion In some reSisters durinS

of Godparents' the l6th century the names
Names °^ ^e sP°nsors were entered,
e.g. :—

Register 29

Rychard Blyke ye sonne of Mtr- Gabryell
blyke whas crystened ye xxv Day
of January e. Mtr- Ry chart Morton
& Mtr- Wyllyam elton godfathers
& Maystres Marye dauys god-
mother. (L,edbury.)

In others only the important families
were thus honoured : —

Phillip the Sonne of ffrancis Dyngley esquire
was baptized the xiiiith daye of
Augustei6o3. Surety esSr-Phillipe
Kightley and Mr. Phippe Biggs
and the Lady Sands of ffladbury.
(Cropthorne.)

Cardinal Pole ordered the sponsors'
names to be added to every baptismal entry
in 1555, but the order appears to have been
imperfectly obeyed and after a few years
disregarded.

The duties imposed on
Avoiding

Taxation «£?*? entries, temp.

Will. III., had an uncertain

influence, some parishes appear to have

either largely forgotten baptism or else the

3o The Parish

Parson forgot to register, of course to avoid
the tax; in others the Parson in his character
of tax-gatherer must have looked up the
objectors and entered up the births, for we
come across such entries as : —

1697. John Fry had a child born in April
but not baptised by me. (Tarrant
Hinton.)

This register contains several similar
entries.

Calverton register has a page appropriated
to entries of unbaptised children, 1698 — 1700;
and in Stoke Hammond book is : —

" A register of Births & Burialls According
to an Act of par Made in ye yeare
1695 C tooke place May ye first of
y* year," this heads a page set
apart for " ye Births, abortions c
burialls of Dissenters," specimen
entry is: — Feb. ye 16, 1696. Ed-
ward Bayley a dissenter had a
child borne y1 was not made
Xtian according as our Church
requireth.

Register 3T

During the period 1654 — 1660, the legis-
lature ordered the elected " parish register "
to enter " births" (not baptisms), but on the
return of the clergy to their rights at the
Restoration baptisms were again entered,
this change is usually markedly noticeable.

During the i8th century
Private tlle custom Of privately

baptising was very usual,
in some registers nearly all the baptismal
entries for many years are marked "priv."
This abuse was commented on by Evelyn,
who writes "it was due to the pride of
women bringing that into custom which
was only indulged in case of imminent
danger and out of necessity during the
Rebellion."

Some distinction must
Meaning of be drawn between « baptis-
« Baptised .ng,, and «cliristenmg";

"baptism" is the immersion
Christened" . ***.'•*

and naming of the infant,

32 The Parish

and " christening " is the public receiving
of the infant before the congregation at a
service in the church as a member of Christ's
flock. During the incumbency of the Rev.
Henry Southall, at Kington (Worcester), the
entries in the register were as follows : —

1794. Sept. 28th. Tho., s. of Tho. and

Margaret Barrett was bapt. and
christened in the church 6th Dec.

1795. Rob., s. of Rob. and Mary Baker,

priv. bapt. June i4th, publickly
christened June 2ist.

Probably these private baptisms occa-
sionly escaped registration.

The term "half-
" Half-

baptized" no doubt refers to
baptized "

these private ceremonies ;

it is defined in the N.E.D. " To baptize pri-
vately or without full rites, as a child in
danger of death."

1778. June 27th. Rebecca, daughter of
Anselm and Rebecca Bayly, born
June 23rd, and half-baptized June

Register 33

27th. Fully baptized April 29th,
1779. (Westminster Abbey.) See
N. & Q., ist Aug., 1908.

Interesting Selected instances of

Instances interest are: —

1598. Thomas, the sonne of Stephen Sniithe,
was incorporated into the Churche
of God. 25th Feb. (Stoke Prior.)

1663. Edward and Joseph, sonnes of
William L,aishly, was sprinkled
3ist May. (Bitton.)

1674. Henricus Brooke Filius Thomae
Brooke Vicarii hujus Ecclesiae
et Mariae uxoris Die Saturni
undecimo die Julii natus (circa
Horam 6-tam post meredianam)
die Dominico I2mo die Julii renatus
id est Baptizatus fuit Anno prae-
dicto. (Bishampton.)

Illegitimacy legitimacy has never

been an uncommon circum-
stance at any period of men's history, and
the evidence of the registers shows that
sexual morality in England has not varied
much in quality since registers were insti-

34 The Parish

tuted. All sorts of terms are used to indi-
cate this condition, but the word " bastard"
is not used anything like so often as its
various synonyms ; this is as it should be,
as the word (of doubtful etymology) is
more properly applied to the " bye-blows"
of the great than to the produce of prole-
tarian promiscuity. The earliest known
application of the term is to the Conqueror,
who styled himself, " Ego Wilhelmus Cog-
nomine Bastardus."

Coke (on Lyttelton) writes : Bastardus
est qui nascitur ante matrimonium. Nothus,
natus ex patre nobili et matre ignobili:
Spurius, natus ex matre nobili et patre
ignobili. Thos. Ridley writes (1636) :
" Those which were begotten of married
women were called Nothi because they seem
to be his children whom the marriage doth

show, but are not : pater est quern

jiuptise demonstrant

Register 35

Nothus and Spurius are
The Parson's , . - f . . ,

___ certainly not used in parish

registers in the strict sense
above defined, in fact, the terms used varied
more according to the righteous wrath of
the recording parson, who, perhaps, thereby
expressed his disgust at the offence ; mark
the gentleness of this : —

William, son of Lord Talbot, per Dutchess
of Beaufort, ut asseritur, born
Nov. ist, 1743, bapt. Mar. 24th,
1743/4. (St. Pancras.)

And the severity of these : —

1590. John, the son of a strumpet born at
Ockleys, bapt. May 28th. (Kington,
Wore.)

1697. May loth. Wm. son of Mary Hewett,
the whore, bapt. (Stony Stratford.)

1774. May 22nd. Mary, the beast boarn
dautr. of Mary More was bapt.
(Huddington.)

1788. Sarah, dau. of Jane Beament (prosti-
tute), Oct. 5th bapt. (Tarrant
Hinton.)

36 The Parish

Other methods of expression are : —

1560. Bridget and Elizabeth, the daughters
of adultery, bapt. Jan. ist.
(Chesham.)

1567. Alice, daught. of Margery Meretrix,
bapt. Dec. 25th. (Chesham.)

1615. Arthur Cuthbert filius cuiusdam
circumforanei, bapt. April i5th.
(Woughton.)

1625. June 29th. Lucia f. (ut putatur)
Thos. Cock and Eliz. Henbury,
alias Pierse, alias Vaughan, mere-
tricis eius et impurissimi scorti,
bapt. (Hopton Castle.)

1669. Margaret, the daughter (spuria) of
David de la Hay and Jane his
concubine, was bapt. Sept. i2th.
(Glasbury.)

1702. Dec. 2Oth. Sarah, illeg. child of
Hugh Isaack's wid. by an anony-
mous father, bapt. (Selattyn.)

Particulars about pater-
Further ., f

nity are very common, for
Instances « " ; ,

sharp search was always

made by parish officers after the fathers of

Register 37

illegitimate children to prevent expense to
the rates.

*»

1603. Hughe Pigot, a Bastard son of Mar-
garet Pi got begotten as she sayeth
by Michael Harrison an hostler
dwelling wth one Mr. ffroome in
London near Newgate att the signe
of the seriante Head xped xxxj
Julie. (Mark Fryston.)

Katheren Heath, ye daughter of Geoffry
Heath yf ye mother of ye child
hath fathered it right, was babt.
22nd August, 1613. (Banstead.)

1634. Ann, ye daughter of Joane Money &
John Bayley ye supposed father
begotten in fornication was
baptized March i5th, (Morden.)

1704. 26th Sept. Jane, ye dautr. of
Susannah Newman, ye father
unknown, bap. (Bere Hacket.)

1787, Oct. 28th. Mary, illeg. daugh. of
Mary Webb was bapt. (P). Her
Mother said she was then fourteen
years old. (Canon Frome.)

38 The Parish

1766. Mar. 3rd. Sarah, the Bastard Dau.
of Sarah Smallwood of Baton,
Widow, aged about 50 years was
bapt. (Bletchley.)

The above examples are selections only
from the numberless entries of similar nature ;
the forms, words and expressions used are of
very great variety. On the whole, as the aver-
age entry of a " bastard" contains more detail
than that of the legitimate, the genealogist
should pay careful attention to these cases
and see if the child died, for the mortality
among illegitimate infants was much higher
than the general infant death rate.

BURIALLS, SEPULTA, FUNERA, EXEQUIAE,
INTERMENTS, ETC.

It is classed under one
Burials . . , . ,. ,

of the designations above

written that we find the most interesting
and informing part of the parish register.

Register

39

Wedding entries show small variation, and
might take place (or not) irregularly and
escape registration ; baptism, during the
greater part of registral time, has not been
the custom of a considerable minor faction,
and births very frequently escaped the
parochial record ; but all died, and the bodies
had to be buried, so we may suppose that
fewer of the population evaded the burial
than the other sections of the register.

Instances Classic elegance appears

in some of the following to
atone for the minimum of information : —

1569. Aug. 30th. Filia pauperis viatica,
bur. (Ledbury.)

1585. March i6th. Mendicus cujus nomen
ignotum est egit, etc., bur.
(Shipton.)

1587. Perigrina quaedam ultimo die Decem-
bris, sepult. (Tarrant Hinton.)

1597. Sept. 28th. Create Xpian, bur.
(Bruton.)

4o The Parish

1654. A woman's male child. Sept. 4th,
bur. (Banstead.)

1698. A female infant belonging to a
stranger, ye name unknown, bur.
(North I/uffenham.)

1776. Feb. 22nd. A base child, bur.
(Selattyn.)

More exact detail is exemplified by: —

I579- June 26th. Francis Chambers, bur.
(Whitburn.)

1569. Jan. I5th. Two childn of Richerd
Wright, bur. (Bishop Middle-
ham.)

1616. April 25th. Will. Shakspere, gent.,
bur. (Stratford-on-Avon.)

1623. Aug. 8th. Mrs. Shakspeare, bur.
(Stratford-on-Avon.)

1727. Feb. i5th. A poor man, commonly
called deaf George, bur. (Bdling-
ham.)

1726. March. Elizabeth Taylor, a Romanist,
bur. (North L,uffenham.)

Increased information is shown by : —

1587. 8° Septembris. Watkin filius Johan-
nis Jackson ex stupro, sepult.
(Tarrant Hinton.)

Register 4i

1643. Dorothy Purfery an ancient mayd
was buryed May 8th. (Rowington.)

1687. Joanna Carpenter vidua ad iuopiam
redacta sepulta fuit nth Feb.
(Sarnesfield.)

1700. May 23rd. William Turner, son of
William Turner of this Parish.
Dyed att sea May ye 23rd. (L,yd-
linch.)

1767. William, son of Thos. Combes of
Frensha, and Mary his wife.
July i4th, bur. (Haselmere.)

1763. July 23rd. Major Rich'd Corbet was
burled with military honours.
(Moreton Corbet.)

1800. Henry Davis, Rigway, aged 100^
years. Jan. i4th bur. (Ink-
berrow.)

Some genealogical hints are conveyed in :

1614. Mar. 2ist. Bur. Stephen Grimesell,
senex paterfamilias. (Boughton-
under-Blean.)

1640. Sepult uxor mater uxoris Richardi
Stevenson. Jan. nth. (Kirk
Ella.)

42 The Parish

1657. Nov. 26th. Owen Jones, a brother-
in-law of John Hall, bur. (Smeth-
cote.)

1663. Nov. 24th. Vincent Downes, pater-
familias, bur. (Moreton Corbet.)

1666. Francis Smith and his mother-in-
law was buried 2nd of Feb.
(Bitton.)

1611. Sept. 26th. Thomas Robins, the
incestuous base child of Thomas
Robins, begottene on Mary
Hummer, his daughter-in-law.
(Bruton.)

The next is a specimen of a useful
entry, and not at all common : —

1604. Joan Briant was buried the viith day
of December, 1604, and sickoned
and made her will nuncupatively
the vth of December, 1604, testes
Lewys Evans clr. Robert Briant,
Margarye Hawkins, and Elizabeth
Peerce.

It is from the burial

Obsolete •*..«*. ^

_ register that we gather

Customs

evidence of many forgotten

Register 43

and obsolete customs, and glean a great deal
that illustrates not only local but national
history.

1588. Nov. 1 7th. A Crysomer of Thomas
Gooses bur. (Boughton-under-
Blean.)

1596. Item on Mundaie the viith daie of
ffebruarii, Anne Tandy and her
yong innocent, a woman chyld,
was buried. (Churchill.)

1599. Willm., the crisome child of Robt.
L,yde, of Netherton, bur. i8th Jan.
(Cropthorne.)

At baptism the infant

~, was anointed with chrism

Chrysom .

(oil) and wrapped up in a

swaddling cloth, called a chrisom cloth, and
so clothed until the end of the month, when
the mother was "churched, "and the chrisom
cloth, which was the property of the church,
returned. Infants dying less than a month
old were called " crysomes," or crisome
children. By the Prayer Book of 2 Edw. VI.

44 The Parish

(1549) the crisome is especially required to
be placed on the child.

" The chrysom and a gracepenny always
to be given at ye woman's churching. The
chrysom must be halfe a yard of fine linnen
long, and a full yarde in breadth. — Ita testor
G. Buddie." (Wickenby.)

The use of the crysom was probably dis-
continued in 1552-3, but the word remained
in use, as applied to young infants, until
well into the i8th cent., and may occasionally
be met with in the register, e.g.) Monk
Fryston, 1655, when the Catholic Church
was suppressed and persecuted.

Mrs. Quickly compared FalstafFs exem-
plary end to that of " any christom child."

Every register shows
Burial in ., * , * ,,__. 1t

„, „ evidence of the " Woollen

ISoollen

Acts and their working,

enacted in order that the woollen manu-
facturing industry should be encouraged in

Register 45

1666, re-enacted more stringently in 1678,
when affidavit was required of a relation at
every burial that the Act had been complied
with ; this law was enforced for a century,
and, gradually falling into desuetude, was
finally repealed in 1814.

1678. A child of Robert Sin ithers being ye
first corps wrapped in woollen
according to a late Act of Parlia-
ment. Sept. i6th, bur. (Banstead.)

1680. June 29th. Martha Lake, widow,

was bur. in linnen, and informa-

Buried tion given in to Sir Norton Knatch-

in bull, whereupon he granted a

Linen warrant for the levying of five

pounds on the goods and chattels

of Thos. Lake, in whose house

the aforesaid M. L,. died, wch

warrant was executed, and one

moyety of the forfeiture was given

to the informer and the other

moiety to the poor. (Ashford.)

In consequence of half the. fine going to
the informer, the relatives of the deceased
usually arranged that a relation or dependent

46 The Parish

should " inform," and thus secure the reward
for the family.

1706. Mrs. Katherine Dolben, wife of his
Grace John, Lord Archbishop of
York, buried in linnen, and the
penalty paid. Aug. lyth. (Fine-
don.)

Q , One good result of the

Woollen Act was that it
caused the registration of all deaths, for
evidence had to be given that every corpse,
wherever interred, was wrapped in wool,
and the parson, keeping the only recognised
record, was the official by whom the Act
was administered. Subsequent Acts impos-
ing a tax on register entries also utilised the
parochial organisation and the parish priest :
4 'The minister neglecting to make the
proper entries in the parochial register shall
forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds "
(6 & 7 Will. III.) ; which can never have
been enforced,

Register 47

1722. Dec. 2 1 St. Received a certificate
dated Dec. i5th, signed by Her-
man Hingsberg and Peter Priest,
searcher of the parish of All-
Hallows, Lombard Street, London,
that Ann How, of Asply, Quaker,
dyed of the small-pox and also
was buried in woollen. She dyed at
London, buried in the Graveyard
at Hogsty End in the parrish of
Wandon, in a leaden coffin. (Wav-
endon.)

From 1666 to 1750 Wavendon register
contains upwards of 150 entries of Quaker
burials at the Friends' Burial Ground,
Hogsty End ; but for a tax having to be
collected and paid these burials would not
have been registered in a Church Record.

1580. Anthony Butler, burd. Dec. i3th.
" Mortuarv " Mortuorium pro. eod . 3/4 dedit
ary ecclesiae iad. (Bisham.)

1704. Sept. 2ist. Edward Tomkins was
buried, Carpenter received of his
Executor 3/4 for his Mortuary, he
dying worth ten markes and under
30 lib. (Wavendon.)

48 The Parish

A Mortuary was the second best quick
cattel whereof the party died possessed, it is
given in lieu of small tythes forgotten.
(Fuller). These exactions were forbidden in
the case of strangers by 21 Hen. VIII., cap. 6,
which prohibited mortuaries from people
having goods under ^30, then 3/4; under
.£40, 6/8 ; over £40, io/-. It may be inferred
that payment was at least passively resisted
occasionally, and collection difficult, for
Bishop -Benson (Gloucester), writing to his
successor in the Rectory of Bletchley says :
" You must take care to assert your right to
the mortuaries ... if you neglect this
at first you will lose them always."

Here and there we find

a reminder that burial in a
without coffin did not become usual

Coffins

until about 1700 or even

later. Lord Stowell pointed out that while
every parishioner had a naked right of burial
in his parish churchyard it is by no means

Register 49

clear that he has any right to bury a big
box (perhaps imperishable) as well. The
Church Service directs the Priest to meet the
corpse at the gate, and on reaching the grave
the corpse is to be made ready to be laid in
the earth.

Probably we are indebted to the Act of
1678 for the particulars entered with burials
at Farnham for several years : —

1678. Mrs. Elizabeth L,assels, of Farnham,
buried without coffin Jan. ye 2nd,
and without any other material
then sheep's wool onely, attested
by Jane Inchboard and Grace
Middleton before Will. Inglby,
Kn. & Bart.

1680. Anne, ye wife of Christopher Parret,
buried Sept. nth in a coffin not
lined with silke, haire, etc., nor she
wrapt or wound up in any other
material then sheep's wool onely,
attested by Elizabeth Note before
Ric. Hutton.

5o The Parish

Details of . In ^rnham register

_ «j during 1678-81 there are

Lomn .

55 consecutive burial entries

giving details of coffin, etc., of these 41 were
without coffin, and 14 with coffin, that is
about 25 per cent, were coffined. As the
parish is said to have contained a larger
proportion of well-to-do inhabitants than
most places, we may suppose that the 25
per cent, was not attained generally, and that
the people was content to bury the dead in
accordance with the dictates of common
sense and the instructions of the Church.

1604. Jane Clovill, the late widow of

QAvmiAiii.*!* Bustace Clovill, Esquier, was
Sepulchrals buried he th' JunH ^ the

followed by funeml was\ Jt th'e 8th of
Funerals July> (West Hanningfield.)

All burial ceremonies may be reduced to
two ranks : for some are funerals, serving for
preparation to ; and some sepulchrals, serving
for placing in the grave the defunct. (The
Elaine of Kirkburiall, 1606.) Rich. Bste-

Register 5i

broke, vicar of Okeharnpton, in his will
5th Dec., 1413, leaves to the priests taking
part in his exequies and present on the day
of his funeral i2d. each ; and to each priest
on the day of his burial 6d. The celebra-
tion of the funeral being an elaborate cere-
mony, was necessarily some time after the
actual burial of the body, and an effigy re-
presented the deceased was used at the state
function, a proceeding only possible to the
wealthy owing to the expense.

1577. My Lady Ann Dannet, deceased ye
1 7th of March at 9 or 10 at night,
was buryed sollemly the 3Oth day
of May in the yeare aforesaid.
Mr. Norris, ye King of Heraulds,
was here and Mr. Blake, ye preacher
the Bishop of Canterburye's Chap-
lyn. (Merstham.)

1668. June 26th. The R t. Honorble. Charles
Lord Viscount Ffitzharding was
between 12 and i of the clock in
the night after a sermon preached
by Mr. John Randall, then Minst,

S2 The Parish

of Brewton, buried in the vault
in the Chancell in a coffin of lead.
(Bruton.)

Night burial was an

_> . . occasional custom with the

burials

upper classes, but as these

nocturnal functions were often scenes of
unseemly disorder they were prohibited by
Charles I. Torchlight was the natural
accompaniment of these ceremonies, the
churchwardens as a rule supplying the
torches and charging for them. In spite of
prohibition the custom lingered on into the
last century, and as late as 1823 there was a
night funeral with torches at High Wy combe.
John Wesley was thus buried at an early
hour of the morning on Qth March, 1791,
and Mr. Dyott, of Freeford, Lichfield, was
so buried about 1890.

1690. Octobris 8th. Robt. Grissold was
buried (as wee suppose) in the
night- (Rowington.)

^Register
&

The last 1uotation in-

timates that night burial
was not always honourable, suicides and
other evil doers were often buried late at
night in unconsecrated ground as a mark ot
ignominy, and the excommuuicate, etc.,
were treated with scornful or maimed rights.
Every register contains examples : —

1624. Dec. 24th. John Wookke, excommu-
nicate, buried out. (Bruton.)

1657. A sonne of George Gostley, whom
he named George, not baptised,
was put in a hole (as he tearrned
it) on Mar. 24th. (Little Brickhill.)

1741. Jan. i8th. Eliz., wife of Richard
Rogers, dying excommunicate
was put into the ground. (Shen-
ley, Bucks.)

1687. Aug. 2ist. Thomas Rogers, ye son
of John Rogers (who died excom-
municated), c Ann his wife was
interred, his father was put into
ye ground behind ye church with-
out a buriall, but y1- of an Asse,
but ye son's funerall was cele-

S4 The Parish

bra ted according to ye Rites of ye
Church, be being a commer to
Church, etc. (Stoke Hammond.)

1688. William David, of Talgarth . . .
was found dead (it is reported
y1- he made himself away upon
discontent because he shd. not
marry his maide. The Lord of
ye Mannor seized on his goods,
and his body is in Glasbury Church-
yard near ye way . . . where
noe good Xtians are buried) on ye
ayth of November. (Glasbury.)

1627. Nicholas Maultyne hanged himself
Dec. 24th and was buried in ye
high way ye 26th Dec. (Churchill.)

The above examples show the attitude
of the Church towards the evil-doer, suicide
and schismatic : a salutory discipline which
this present age more than hesitates to
enforce.

In Solihull Register are several burials
"by women " or by " by laymen," evidently
maimed rites and a departure from the
usual custom.

Register 55

NAMRS.

The Parish Register
Names

takes precedence of all

other records dating from 1538 as being the
authority for names ; indeed, it has been
considered that the institution of registers
probably caused surnames to become per-
manent where hitherto they had been loosely
applied, for though family surnames were
developed and in general use by the i6th
century, there is plenty of evidence in the
register books before 1600 (and even after)
of uncertain surname, also of change, adop-
tion, aud acquirement by use.

In Bletchley Register.
Uncertain *• . *• / f

0 the baptism of a son of

Surnames

Martin, the clerk, is entered

in 1577, there are subsequent entries in
which Martin is called " the clerk" or
" register," finally the surname "Register"
cleaves to him, and this may be regarded as
an instance of the acquirement of a surname

56 The Parish

from an occupation or trade. In the same
register may be traced the development of
the description " under-the-wood " into the
surname Underwood, an example of name
derived from locality.

Strangers and immigrants frequently
acquired as a surname the description con-
ferred on them by the people among whom
they settled.

1699. Alexander Scott, a Scott by nation,
buried Jan. 22nd. (Stoke Prior.)

1558. Dec. i3tli. Dauyd Apdauyd or
Walcheman bur. (L,edbury.)

1619. Jan. 25th. John, ye loder, called
John of Battington, bur. (Bruton.)

Foundlings had of ne-
Foundlings .. & , ,

cessity names bestowed on

them, often the name of the town or village
was given as a surname, e.g. : —

1741. Aug. loth. A child that was found
in the Lodge Park was taken up
and by order of the churchwardens

Register 57

and overseers of the poor was bapt.
by the name of Betty Keynsham.
(Keynsham.)

1797. Sept. loth. William Keynsham,
found in a waggon by Kgs. Arms,
bapt. (Keynsham.)

1744. Aug. 23rd. Frances Ann Newenden,
a foundling child, bapt. (New-
enden.)

Other names are : —

1622. John Hall (sic dictus fortassis quia in
diuersorii nostri Aula baptizatus)
was bapt. 2Oth Nov. and dyed the
28th. (Merstliam.)

1744. Mary Bush, a foundling, priv. bapt.
I3th Aug. (Little Brickhill.)

Bigland writes (Parochial Registers) : —
" . . . . that poor infant at Newark- upon-
Trent, commonly called Tom among us,
should afterwards be metamorphosed into
the great Dr. Thomas Magnus, that famous
non-resident and ambassador."

An Ali "

given in the register ; it

5s The Parish

may be supposed that many people were
either ignorant of or careless about a correct
surname ; in sequestered rural districts this
nonchalant mental attitude may still be met
with ; the writer knows of several examples.
An alias may be accounted for in some cases
by the obvious circumstance which leads a
person to be known by his mother's name
as often as by his father's. In early days
brothers living in the same place and
following different occupations would be
differentiated by their neighbours with the
names of their trades, and thus acquire an
alias which might in time become a surname,
e.g. :—

1559. Kdm'nd ye sonne of wyllyam webster
or tanner whas buryed ye vii. feb.
(Ledbury.)

Mere difference in spell-

-.. ing does not make a different

name, for in the i6th century

and even much later the number of letters a

Register 59

man put into his name was as much a matter
of taste and choice, as the number of
flourishes he put round his completed signa-
ture. The addition or subtraction of that
final and silent " e" about which so many
moderns are punctilious, does not make an •
other name, e.g., Smyth (e), Green(e), Clark(e),
Brown (e), etc.

Though referring to one and the same
man or family, the following variants are
found in Stratford - on - Avon register : —
Shakespear(e), Shakspear(e), Shakspere,
Shaxspere, Shaxpear, Shaxpere, Shakspeer,
Shaksper ; and in fifteen different ways in
Rowington register.

Other examples are : —

Dyngley, Dinely, Dingley, Dingleye, Dingly,
Dinglye, Dinley. (Cropthorne.)

Gower, Gouer, Goor(e). (Inkberrow.)

Bowchier, Bouchier, Boucher. (Clyst St.
George.)

60 The Parish

Brabrook, Bradbruke, Brawbrook,Bradbrock,
Bradbrok, Bradbroke, Bradbrook.
(S. Nicholas & S. Peter, Ipswich.)

Hemming, Heminges, Hemmyng(es), Hem-
ing(e), Hemyng(e). (RousLench.)
This last is found in Offa's time
(757-796) in the epic " Beowulf,"
Offa and his son are called * ' Hem-
inges Maeg," i.e. kinsmen of
Hemming.

" Smith" Smith, Smithe, Smyth,

Smythe, Smeeth, Smyght,
Smyghth, are various spellings of that name
whose universal distribution hardly requires
mention or proof. Nevertheless, for the
purpose of this paragraph, the writer
examined the indices of upwards of one hun-
dred volumes of printed registers, including
all those issued by the Parish Register
Society, and found the name in all except
one — the exception was Sibdon Carwood — a
small register (1583 — 1812) of less than 23
printed pages, though Tarrant Hinton

Register 61

(1545-1812) only contains one Smith, and
his name was Thomas, and he was curate in

1774-

It is an interesting circumstance, and few
people know it, that the greatest of Indian
warriors, Hyder AH, was intimidated in the
hour of victory by the homeliest of British
patronymics: at Mulwagal on 4th Oct., 1768,
when u Hurrah, Smith, Smith " was used as
a war-cry by the English Army, to lead
Hyder Ali to think that the brave and
redoubtable soldier, Joseph Smith, was
present and in command. (Fortescue.)

Extinct , genf logist must

Families n°4. [°rget fthat SUmamf
which are frequent in the

earlier years of a register very often disappear
after a time ; the families die out, but the
names may be perpetuated in connection
with fields, farms, homesteads, etc., in the
parish.

62 The Parish

Attention may here be
Change of d ^

Surname --111

change of surname is illegal

unless effected with the permission of the
Sovereign. Under the Roman Law pros-
titutes were obliged to assume names, and
were not allowed to bring infamy on an
honourable name. Modern demi-mondaines
(the oldest profession in the world) and stage
players still follow this custom, a survival
of the old law. The illegal assumption of
another's name was not tolerated in the i6th
century.

" . . . . why this is flat knavery, to take
upon him another man's name.
(Act V., sc. i., "Taming of the
Shrew.")

1665. Old Knockstone, the pavier, bur.
Aug. lath. (Stony Stratford.)

.

Register 63

NAMES.

•• *A - '•-%* • <• individual's nominal

description consists of the
Names .. . . , , .

designation he brings into

the world with him (surname), and which
is derived from the parents ; and the personal
designation, which is to distinguish and
identify him, bestowed by choice of parents
or guardians, and which is known as the
Christian or baptismal name. This last is
really and more properly the person's name,
in the baptismal service the priest says,
" Name this child," not "What is this child's
name ? " and in the catechism the question,
"What is your name?" is followed by
another question, "Who gave you this
name?" and in the marriage service the
contracting patties repeat their baptismal
name without the surname, clearly showing
that the Catholic Church only regards the
name bestowed in baptism as the person's
real, legal and undeniable name ; and there

64 The Parish

is not, and never has been, any legal way of
changing this name, it is very doubtful if it
can be changed at confirmation, as is some-
times supposed. It must be remembered
that, however many names are selected,
combined and bestowed baptismally on a
person, the whole is only one name.

The choice of baptismal names in the
past would now be considered — especially
by the board school and "novelette" populace
— as very restricted and commonplace ;
indeed, it is somewhat a trouble to the gene-
alogist as the frequent repetition of Thomas,
John, Francis, Mary, Elizabeth, Catherine,
Ann, etc., renders his task uneasy and com-
plicated. In the 1 6th century (et circa) there
was an irritating habit of giving the same
name to more than one living child, a prac-
tice devoid of imagination and fruitful in
confusion.

1544. Feb. loth. Gemini Cocke nominates
Johes. bapt. (Hopton Castle.)

Register 65

1564. Nov. loth. John & John, ye two
sonnes of Thomas Savye. (New-
enden.)

1614. Henry Smith, ye second son of that
name of Thomas Smith, was
baptised 24th July. (Moulton.)

In the last register Win. Chapman, bur.
nth Mar., 1689, is styled Tertius.

In the Middle Ages it
Saints' .,

was the custom to name a

child after the saint on (or
near) whose day it was born, and as 49 days
in the year are associated in the Roman
calendar with some saint, martyr, confessor
or beatus named John, the commonness of
that name is accounted for. In Domesday
Book, William is the commonest name, then
Robert, then Walter; John being far less
common.

Certain names, now
Uncommon .

not common, were fre-
Names , . ,

quently used in early re-

gistral times, Magdalen for instance.

66 The Parish

1599. Maudlin Dipple, bapt. 3otli Jan.
(Stoke Prior.)

1573. Maudlin Mynshaw, bur. March xii.
(Little Brickhill.)

1614. Maudlin, the daughter of Robert
Barnford, bap. March xii. (L,ittle
Brickhill.)

In the last-mentioned parish the Church
was dedicated to S. Mary Magdalen, and
the phonetic spelling gives the usual pro-
nunciation.

The name of Ralph is spelled Raphe,
Rayfe, Raff, etc., Crabbe (Parish Register)
makes it rhyme with safe, and Butler (Hudi-
bras) with half.

William is often written Willyam or
Wyllyam in accordance with the vernacular
pronunciation.

The interchangeability of Agnes and
Ann or Annis has been contested, it is
worthy of note that in a case, King v. King,
decided 42 Eliz., the court resolved that the

Register 67

two names were " several names." (N. & Q.
10 S. viii.)

The puritan or biblical
Baptismal r , . - . A

__ fashion of nomenclature

Names of - r

j.i- T* .j. seems to have found most

the Puritans ...

favour, «raz 1600, and the

registers show but scarce examples of those
ridiculous names of which Praise God Bare-
bone is the best known instance, they were
most probably adopted names, or when given
to an infant were not bestowed in baptism
and therefore escaped registration. Examples
of this style are : —

1598. Aug. 20th. Meekness, d. of Stephen
Juce, bap. (Boughton-under-
Blean.)

1640. God hath heard, ye sonne of John
and Dorothy Palmer. Bapt. Feb.
1 2th. (Rowington.)

1615. Marie, ye daughter of Muchmercie
Geyles, bap. March 24th. (New-
enden.)

68 The Parish

Accepted Frewin, the Archbishop of
York, proscribed by Cromwell, was born in
1588, and received his name in baptism.

Some registers are much richer in un-
common names than others: — S. Sepulchre's,
Northampton, contains Abisha, Herodiah,
Hortimias, Mehatabel, Peterlaine, Tim-
matha ; North LufFenham yields Bezaliell,
Bsay, Repent, Patience, Trephosa, Obedi-
ence (all before 1600), Anthrea (1614),
Obediah (1629), Harboria (1632), etc., and
Babolina in 1717. I/ittle Brickhill gives,
and not merely once each, Sabine, Sampson,
Hadria, Penelope, ffayrefford, Duglas,
Athanasius (1575), Embrey, Benedict, etc.
Clyst St. George records Pentecost (a girl),
Zedwill, Marhoodum, Fitzchakum, Jechez-
kelem, Pascover (a girl), etc.

Twins were very often
Names of , ^ , T -

... . named Esau and Jacob,

Twins J

Moses and Aaron are also

met with, and Joseph and Mary.

Register 69

Peregrine is often met
Offspring . - «

. _ with as a name bestowed

of Tramps „ . . ^

on the offspring of tramps

and wanderers ; these unfortunates were
sometimes branded with names indicative of
contempt or derision, e.g. : —

1773. Thos. Trash, son of Eliz. Nicholls,
single woman, buried 23rd May.
(Bisham.)

1620. Rahab filia Johanna West, bastard,
bap. Dec. 25. (Stratford-on-Avon.)

1594. Lazarus, sonne of a begger woman,
bap. 3Oth March. (Stoke Ham-
mond) . And in Westbury we find
in 1789, Merry Andrew Munday.

1749. Mar. ist. Mary all the World.
(Bethnal Green.)

The bestowal of a double
or triple name in baptism

was a foreign custom which
Triple Names

was slow in becoming adopt-
ed by English people, and did not become
general until the igth century. One of the

7o The Parish

earliest instances in England of a double
name is that of Henry Frederick, Prince of
Wales, son of James I. In High Wycombe
register the first instance, Katherine Mary,
occurs in 1661. In North L,uffenham the
first occurrence is in 1686, when Mallory
John, son of Solomon Wing, was bap.
June gth ; there are very few in the whole
register. In Canon Frome register about
1700 and onward, several members of the
Hopton family received double names, the
surname Cope in each case being combined
with another name.

In Inkberrow, 1698, a bastard was bap.
Francis Churchley (Heming).

The influx of foreigners
Refugees . . *

as refugees into different

parts of the kingdom, especially London,
would be likely to lead to the local adoption
of certain customs such as double-naming,
the registers of Spitalfields and Bethnal
Green show a larger number of entries of

Register 7i

double-names than most places in the i8th
century, most of the instances are associated
with a French patronymic, and thus demon-
strate the alien influence.

The use of surnames as
Surnames baptismal names, though far
as Baptismal from common before I?

Names 1

was not unknown : —

1616. Nov. 23rd. Shaksper fillius Thomas
Quyny, gent., bapt. (Stratford-
on-Avon.)

The friend of the dramatist, who thus
demonstrates their familiarity, has his name
spelled in eleven ways in the register.

After the Foundling:
The Foundling .

... Hospital in London was
Hospital r .

opened in 1741, it was the

fashion to visit the hospital on Sunday
mornings and stand sponsor to a child.
Infants were embarrassed with such names
as Abercorn, Bedford, Beiitinck, etc. The
custom soon ceased in after years, when

72 The Parish

sponsors were pursued by those to whom
they had lightly given their names, and help
asked on the ground of an assumed kinship.
Other names inconsiderately bestowed on
Foundling Hospital children were those of
the famous men of the year or age, e.g.,
Boscawen, Byng, Benbow, Nelson, Hamilton,
Hyde, Parker, etc., etc.

Unconscious compli-
Theft of , . ,, . , *V

. , _ ment is often paid to the
Distinguished r ,f. . , ,

._ owners of a distinguished

Names «_ * •

name by those who, being

no relation, bestow it on their children.
Possibly that Socialistic tendency which
would deprive a man of his wealth, is
responsible for the desire to deprive a family
of the distinction of its name by appropriating
it. It is always a name of sonorous quality
or historic renown thus misused. We do
not find that names of lowly import are in
demand. Of all the great family names
unscrupulously annexed, perhaps Howard is

Register 73

as much abused as any. In 1862, one, Bug,
changed his name (which was excusable) to
that of Howard (which was inexcusable).
In 1895 a libel case, Howard v. Dulau & Co.
was tried, and the curious fact came out that
the plaintiff was a Maltese, his mother
hailing from Mount Lebanon, and the
witness considered that the plaintiffs name
Howard was an adaptation of Awad !

11 .... It is really convenient to have such
a name as is easy of pronunciation,
and easy to be remembered, by
reason that kings and other great
persons do by that means the
more easily know, and the more
hardly forget us." — MONTAIGNE.

The number of a man's
Old Age ,

days at the most are an

hundred years. (Ecclesiasticus xviii., 9.)
Since the Christian Era no person of royal
or noble rank mentioned in history has

74 The Parish

reached the age of one hundred years ; and
(up to recently) the insurance companies
can produce no instance. Without denying
the possibility of centenarians, the alleged
cases of very advanced age are exceptional
enough now to excuse an attitude of incre-
dulity until proof is forthcoming. Prob&ndi
necessitous incumbit illi qui agit.

Every register contains
Reputed J . * . -

/, A . an entry of the burial of a

Centenarians .,

reputed centenarian, some

registers contain several. All may be re-
garded as more than doubtful, as corrobora-
tive evidence is invariably wanting. In
times when we know that the average dura-
tion of life was less than it is now, any old
person who had outlived his contemporaries
would be regarded by younger persons as
older than he really was, and would be ex-
ceedingly apt to exaggerate his years in
response to a demand for antiquity, and just
as easily credited by those who wished to

Register 75

believe. In times, also, when parents not
infrequently gave the same name to more
than one child, the death of the elder would
facilitate a claim made by a younger to be
considered his own elder brother. Mistaken
identity may account for some reputed cen-
tenarians. Age was seldom recorded in a
register unless it was advanced, and doubt
was occasionally expressed.

1687. Nov. 8th. Elizabeth Evans, widow,
aged above 100 (ut computator)
bur, (Harley.)

1803. James Tompson, gardner, age 100 &
2 years & 5 months, bur. (Kirk
Ella.)

1718. Ellinor Ashpole, aged 120, bur.
Jan. nth. (little Brickhill.)

1787. John Wood, of Farnham, Dec. i6th.
years, bur. (Farnham.)

In the baptismal portion of the last re-
gister we find there entries : —

1687. John, son of John Wood, bapt.
Oct. i6th.

76 The Parish

1697. John, son of William Wood, bapt.
April i8th.

If the John Wood buried in 1787 be the
one baptized in 1687, then he was 100, not
IO2J, but he is just as likely to be the one
baptized ten years later.

1820. June 22nd. William Michael, LJan-
dervalley, 100, bur. (Glasbury.)

1721-2. William, ye son of Anne and
William Michael, her reputed hus-
band, was bapt. May ye 28th.
(Glasbury.)

If the last two entries refer to the same
individual, then he was not a centenarian.
If the examples quoted can be regarded as
specimens of accuracy where verification of
a sort seems possible, what sort of error may
we expect where no supporting evidence
can be found.

1739. Nov. I4th. Jane d. of Francis and
Ann Chattereau, born Nov. i3th,
bap. (S. Martin -in -the -Fields).
This lady married Robert Williams

Register 77

of Moor Park, Herts, and died
8th Oct. 1841. Age 102.

Other sample entries recording age are : —

1808. Bur. Richard Mills, aged 83, the
oldest inhabitant. (Morden.)

1629. Jan. 14. Ann Johnson, a maid,
unmarried, died at in. (Lough-
borough.)

1698. Charles of Pipton, aged 114,

as common fame reports, bur.
(Glasbury.)

Unless in the case of

people of superior degree

Occupation, / . r

* and importance, or of

beggars and paupers, men-
tion is not usually made in the registers,
especially in the very old registers, of the
position or calling of folk. During the latter
part of the i8th century this detail is recorded
more often. When occupation or profession
is entered it is probably correct, but when
social rank is mentioned, unless proof is
forthcoming, the statement may be regarded

7s The Parish

with a little suspicion. In these days the
retired small shopkeeper or pensioned servant
and artizan is often erroneously described as

" Gentleman " and none
"Gentleman" .;' i t i t.

bothers particularly about

the mis-description — some derision is mani-
fested and that is all. Up to 1700 or later
the rank of " Gentleman" was not bestowed
as easily as the modern man bestows or arro-
gates the higher rank of " Esquire," though
even as early as 1660 (circa) there was some
carelessness evident. " . . . . A very honest
man who could not be reckoned among the
gentry, though he was called by the name of
Mr. lyomax." (" Life of Col. Hutchinson.")

1560. Raufe Norwood esquyre and Anne
Morton gentyllwoma were maryed
togeyther ye xv. day of May.
(L,edbury.)

I573- Ye 1 7th of May was buryed Ann
Hendly, the daughter of Walter
Hendley, Generosus. (Merstham.)

Register 79

1699. Anne ye wife of ffrancis Jauncey
Gentn. was Buryed Jan. 27th.
(Munsley.)

1646. May loth. Eliz. d. of Mr. Henrie
Harper, bapt. (Berwick - upon-
Tweed.)

1596. Sept. 27th. Mr. Willm. Fynney and
Miss Kliza Bunny Marr. (Ryton.)

1579. Charrolus Tyrrell generosus films
Edwardi Tyrrell Armigr nascebatr
vero decimo octavo Aprilis baptiz
abatr auteni vicesimo quarto
eiusdem. (Thornton.)

"The rank and title of
" Esquire "

esquire was scarce found

before temp. Rich. II., but during Henry IV.,
V. and VI. many were so called wrongfully.
As for the title of gentleman, none was so
called before Henry VI., and then but
seldom." (Habington.)

Sir George Sitwell, in a most interesting
essay, "The English Gentleman" (Ancestor
No. I., 1902), writes : — " The premier gentle-
man of England as the matter now stands is

8o

The Parish

Robert Erdeswyke, charged in Staffs, in-
dictments with housebreaking, murder, etc.
(some gentlemen are such blackguards), in
1413 ; as a surname 'Gentilman' is met with
in the first half of the i4th century. The
practice of addressing a mixed audience as
( Gentlemen ' cannot be traced before the
middle of the I7th century."

King Henry V. began
"Syresand , . * / t.
~, . his address to his army

ffelowes "

at Agmcourt " Syres and

ffelowes." The first gentleman to whom a
monument was erected was John Daundelyon
of Margate. As a matter of fact, the desig-
nation was not rigidly defined, but arose to
describe that class which was below the great
families, but above the labourer and artisan,
and contained members of the upper class
who were poor, and members of the lower
orders who had acquired property.

The description " yeo-
" Yeoman" „ . .

man " appears in the regis-

Register 81

ters with fair frequency before the middle of
the 1 8th century. A Yeoman was a free
tenant, and, as a social rank, came next below
the gentry, and above the tradesmen. There
was really no distinction nor material differ-
ence between the smaller gentry or squireens
and the yeoman ; each owned land and
farmed it himself, letting his superfluous
acres, if any. The real difference lay in the
descent and connection of the gentleman,
and his possession of armorial bearings, and
the recording of his pedigree at the visitations.
The two classes overlapped and intermarried,
at every visitation probably some decayed
gentry would ''disclaim," and some yeoman
families would be granted arms and record
a pedigree. Farmer refers not to the rank,
but business of a man. Illustrating the
above we find in Wavendon (circa 1695)
John Gregory, described in different entries
as " yeoman" and <( reputed gent."

82 The Parish

1721. May 29th. Mr. Honor, of the Parish
of Simpson, an aged old man, was
buried. (Bletchley.)

The last mentioned man is described on
his tombstone as Robert Honner, Chandler
and Groaser, his people issued a token in
1655, and he was a man of substance and
importance in the small community, hence
the " Mr.," for he was not of the gentry.

The citizen or freeman seems to have
ranked as a yeoman, and aldermen and some
other officers as gentlemen, e.g.>

1697. Nov. i8th. John, s. of Mr. John
Scott, alderman, bap. (Berwick-
upon-Tweed.)

1697. Jan. 22nd. Mary, d. William Lawson,
burgs., gentln. (Berwick-upon-
Tweed.)

Other entries indicating
Instances position:-

1718. Nov. 3Oth. Sir Richard Harnage, a
worthy Member of Parliament,
bur. (Harley.)

Register 83

1774. Nov. 27th. John Davies, of Alber-
bury, a freeholder of considerable
property, bur. (Melverley.)

1 729 Mrs. Mary Styles, of Ditton, was buried
in linen and paid ye penalty.
(Upton-cum-Chalvey.)

A study of trades, etc.,
Mention . ' . . M1

„ m , mentioned in a register will

of Trades

convey some idea as to the

nature of the population and industries
carried on. In the small rural parishes the
occupations mentioned refer to the necessary
arts of life in a stationary or isolated agricul-
tural community, e.g., Woughton : — baker,
blacksmith, butcher, carrier, carpenter,
chandler, cordwainer, farmer, grocer,
laborer, wheelwright, &c. In lyittle Brick-
hill, Bletchley, and Stony Stratford registers
the frequent mention of inns, and references
to travellers indicate that the inhabitants
largely lived on the public travelling along
Watling Street, on which these parishes are
situated.

84 The Parish

1748. Nathaniel Cartwright, of St. Martins,
L,udgate, London, L,ace Merchant,
buryed March 3rd. (Loughton.)

Lace-maker is a description very com-
monly found in most of the registers in
North Bucks., and shows that the industry,
introduced in the i5th century by Flemish
refugees, flourished for centuries and was
an important industry.

In High Wy combe " papermaker " occurs
in 1659. This is the first mention of an
industry which still exists, and being a town
of some size, we find such evidences of a
"high civilisation" as scholemaster, musi-
cian, glover, bell-man of the burrough,
apothecary, scrivener, brewer, chirurgeon,
dancing-master, sergeant of the correction
house, victualler, pastery-cooke, haberdasher
of hatts, fishmonger, etc., all mentioned
1 68 1 — 90.

Register 85

Descriptive Descriptive entries

Entries are : —

1579. Elizabetha, filia Gulielmi Demock
hominis plebeii moriebat1" Septem-
bris decimo septimo: sepeliebatr
vero decimo nono eiusdem mensis.
(Thornton.)

1783. Piping John from Lincoln, P., bur.
Oct. 23rd. (Walesbury.)

1619. Mary, daughter of Richard Johnson,
free mason, bap. 7th Jan. (Coleby.)

1630. Richard, sonne of Richard Johnson,

rough mason, bap. i7th July.
(Coleby.)

I585- June loth. Nicholas the Surgin
was burid. (Stoke Prior.)

1728. Mr. Thomas Woodcock, ye Dissent-
ing Minister of Upton, widower,
bur. March 26th. (Overchurch.)

1631. June 1 2th. Margarett Howells, Wid-

dow, foriner, bur. (Pitchford.)

1758. Mr. Richard Glanviel, Docter and
Solger, was bur. Oct. I2th. (Hasel-
mere.)

1635. Nov. 26th. Johannis Hall, medicus
peritissimus. (Stratford-on-Avon.)

86 The Parish

The last was son-in-law of Mr. William
Shakspere, playwright and retired actor-
manager, formerly lessee of the Globe
Theatre, Southwark.

Next to the Parson and

r» • i. M i the Squire, two of the best
Parish Clerk

known people in a village

community were the Parish Clerk and the
Midwife, the two functionaries who officiated
at the entry and departure of the individual
on this life.

Concerning the first of these two we
often find the scale of fees due to him and
the rights of his freehold entered in the
register, and entries of his burial with a
record of his term of service occur in almost
every book : —

1639. John Hopkins aged 90 years c
upwards bur. i3th Mar. having
been Clarke 60 years or more.
(Great Brickhill.)

Register 87

1717. Mar. nth. James Howett of Bolton
& Parish Clerk for fifty years &
more bur. (Edlingham.)

During the Commonwealth it was enacted
that the Parish Clerk was to be elected by
the people and called the Register. His
duty was to keep the register book and per-
form most of the duties of the clerk's office.
The election is recorded in nearly every
register as taking place according to the law.

1653. Nov. 28th. John Monday sworne to
execute ye office of a Register, etc.
(according to An Act of Parliam1
Dated ye 24th Aug. 1653) according
to his best skill & knowledge, etc.
(Merstham.)

Occasionally a parish clerk was a man of
good family. There are plenty of instances
of clergymen being appointed, also J.P.'s
and M.A.'s, especially in L,ondon. (N. & Q.,
10 S., viii., 517.)

1746. Nov. 3rd. Margaret, "ye wife guest
„. , . of ye Parish of LJandysilio," bur.
Midwms (M4lverley.)

88 The Parish

The male accoucheur was almost
unknown in the lyth century, and
but rarely employed before the middle
of the 1 8th century, before his coming
the wife-guest, mid-woman or mid-wife
attended practically all births. So oft
needed and useful a person was sure to be
well known, and at her death mention of
her occupation was made in her burial entry.
The midwife in Tristram Shandy was a
widow, and her skill consisted in trusting to
the power of "dame nature," so apparently
did all of her kind, and if to the two essentials
of widowhood and ineptitude she added the
qualification of senility, her obstetric repu-
tation was made. Crabbe (the Parish
Register) thus aptly describes the type : —

Next the name appears

With honors crowned and blest with length of years

A Matron she, whom every village wife
View'd as the help and guardian of her life.

Register 89

In her experience all her friends relied,
Heaven was her help and nature was her guide.

With luck and her the poor remained content.

In the 1 6th century mid-
Profane . r, , r
,,., . wives were often accused of
Midwives

disorderly practices, more

especially of using profane words when
baptising the infant in cases where death
was feared. The Church therefore licensed
midwives, and administered an oath in which
the woman swore to " exercise the office
according to such cunning and knowledge
as God hath given me," and above all in
baptising, to use the proper formula.

1570. Jhoane, ye Doughter of Jhon Counde,
was buryed ye Dec. xii, and chryst
ye same day by ye mydwyfe at
home : obula ad funes campaniles.
(L,edbury.)

Other sample entries are : —

i 681-2. Jan. loth. Joane Norman, an
ancient widdow and midwife, bur.
(Misterton.)

9o The Parish

1604, Mary Finlow, wid. and midwife,
bur. Jan. x. (Little Brickhill.)

1787. Thomas, son of William and Ann
James, Aug. 5th, bap. (His name
was not Thomas but William and
was born i6th June, as appears
by Mrs. Hold's, the midwife's,
book.) (Clunbury.)

To get at the whole of
Copying and Parish

Indexing »"•-.• , , - -,

Register is a work which

demands close attention and careful labor,
and which is well repaid by the results
obtained. Such a work is the very first
thing to be done when one is attempting
the History of a Parish. The whole register
must be copied and indexed, for which
enterprise the neophyte (or even the expert)
will prepare and fortify himself by studying
and following the directions given by Mr. W.
Phillimore, in his pamphlet on " Parish
Registers"; this is essential, in order to
ensure that uniformity of work and practice
with others which facilitates cross reference

Register 9I

and comparison. As an uniform system of
transcription, indexing, arrangement, etc.,
is most desirable, it is well for every fresh
laborer in this vineyard to acquaint himself,
before beginning his work, with the most
approved methods and to consult an expert.
The drudgery of copying and indexing
should not be delegated, but should be done
by the "historian" himself, who is thereby
familiarised with names, families, etc., and
saved much looking-back at a later stage.

Transcription done, the re-
Statistics

gister must next be analysed

by counting every entry and arranging the
numbers as under (from Bradley Green) : —

v Male Female Male Female w_jj-n_.

Baptisms Baptisms Burials Burials V

1614 2931

1615 65634

1616 13632

1617 264

By this arrangement years of excessive
mortality and other variation are easily
perceived.

92 The Parish

The population may be

H°W 7 estimated, by taking the

estimate , J*

_ ... annual average of any

Population . /

selected period of ten con-
secutive years of baptism, and multiplying
that average by 30. This method, recom-
mended by Mr. Marcus Rubin, and said by
him to give a result within 10 % of either
excess or defect, has been used by the writer
in cases where the actual population is on
record and been found to work out fairly
satisfactorily, e.g. In Wavendon, 1676, the
population was estimated by Archbishop
Sheldon's census at 400 ; the average of 12
baptisms multiplied by 30 gives 360, and it
is to be remembered all births would not, at
that time, be recorded.

The first systematic Go-
Censuses ^ , '

vernmental Census was

taken in 1801, and has been repeated every
ten years since. Before 1801 the exact
population was never known, and when

Register 93

about 1780 it was feared that the population
had decreased since the Revolution, an
attempt was made to verify that hypothesis
by applying to the clergy for figures. In
1781 each incumbent received a printed
form, which he was asked to fill in with the
numbers of baptisms and burials entered in
his parish register for the three periods,
1688 — 1697, 1741 — 1750, and 1771 — 1780.

All through the i8th century England
was at war, and there was a constant drain
on the manhood of the country. In baptisms
the males exceeded the females in number.
In the burials the reverse usually obtains.
This may be accounted for by the fighting
services absorbing so many young men,
e.g. :—

Males Females Male Female
Bapt. Bapt. Burials Burials

Bishop Middleham 1559-1812 2134 1963 1435 1488

Wavendon ... 1567-1812 1737 1530 1267 1340

Bletchley 1577-1812 2640 2509 2268 2389

Inkberrow ... 1675-1775 1488 1361 1340 1429

94 The Parish

In the last quoted parish the period con-
tains all the burials from two adjacent small
parishes, which did not baptise at Inkberrow.

Fortescue (" History of British Army")
states that the number of recruits enlisted
during the period 1793 — 1800 was 210,000
men. Probably the West Indies alone in
that time consumed 100,000 British, whom
the policy of Pitt and the culpable ineptitude
of Dundas (War Minister) sent thither to
death, and this is exclusive of the navy and
army service elsewhere.

Infantile mortality, that
Infantile . * ..«. f . r , ,
,_ . ... is, deaths of infants under
Mortality

one year, must be calculated

by examining the baptisms entry by entry,
and then examining the burials in the same
way, to see if the infants were buried within
twelve months, e.g., from Olney.

1678. Ann Odall daughtr of John, bapt.
Sept. i8th.

1678. Ann Odill, daughtr of John, bur.
Sept. 2Qth.

Register 95

When the parents' names
Proportion of ., ^

„ , are not given, identity can

Male to '

Female Births not be estabhshed> nor

elusion drawn. In well

kept registers the usual infantile death rate
is found to be about 25 % — the modern pro-
portion is under 12 %. The proportion of
male to female births is easily made out;
Wavendon gives 113*5 boys to 100 girls;
Bletchley, 105-2 to 100; Moulton, 106-3 to
100 ; Bishop Middleham, 1087 to 100 ; and
Cropthorne (i 557 to 1 7 1 7) 1 1 8 to i oo. These
proportions show a much higher excess of
males than is now the case, the modern rate
in England being about 103 boys to 100
girls.

The frequency of plural
Frequency , . ,, . ? •*. i

* births is also easily calcu-

Plural°Births lated* Wavendon shows
one case of twins in 73 ;

Bletchley one in 70 ; Moulton one in 79 ;
Bishop Middleham one in 74 ; modern rate
is about one in 90.

96 The Parish

Triplets are not at all rare, Bishop Middle-
ham register records three cases.

The mortality in twins and triplets was
very high, most of them died.

Roxton (Beds.), 2ist Sept., 1665. Faith,
Hope, Charity, Mercy, four
daughters of John and Eliz.
Longsden, bapt. The mother was
buried 5th Oct., 1665.

The mortality of women
Mortality of ^ childbirth dead on the

Women in £ . , f -

nu-ui.- AT. neld P* honour, must be

Childbirth

discovered by a study of

the baptismal entries singly, and then
examining the burials for one month after
the date of baptism, when if the mother be
found to have been buried, she may be con-
sidered to have died in consequence of child-
birth, as all deaths of women within a month
of childbirth are nearly always the result of
parturition. This method is naturally only
of value when the name of the mother is

Register 97

given in both bapt. and bur. entries, and is
only put beyond all doubt when the name of
the husband or father accompanies it, some-
times the cause of death is given, and this
makes certain ; in those cases of women
dying undelivered, or after the birth of a
still-born child, there will be no baptismal
entry and no means of finding out, there-
.fore these cases must escape identification.
In making the above investigation the most
scrupulous care is necessary, and it is better
to reject those suspicious cases which lack
reasonable circumstantial confirmation.

1663. Oct. i Qth. Jane, late wiff to Andrew
Coarnan, died in childbed, bur.
(Kdlingham.)

The last, perhaps, died undelivered, as
there is no baptismal entry.

1584. Mar. 29th. Wm., s. of Jo. Graye,
bapt. 1584. Apr. 26th. John
Graye's wife bur. (Bishop Middle-
ham.)

98 The Parish

1682. Mar. aoth. Elizabeth, daughter of

Thos. Ktheridge, bapt. (Crop-
thorne.)

1683. Apr. 2nd. Eleanor, wife of Thos.

Ethridge, bur. (Cropthorne.)

1683. Apr. 8th. Elizabeth, daughter of
Thos. Ethridge. bur (Cropthorne.)

1660. Feb. 22nd. Bridget, the wife, and
Timothy, the sonne, Bridget and
Elizabeth, the daughters, of
Thomas Norman, buried all in
one grave, and all in one coffin.
(Bletchley.) These triplets were
baptized on iQth Feb.

Analysed in the manner above described,
the writer found in Bletchley one maternal
death to 83 births ; in Cropthorne i in 85 ;
in Bishop Middleham (those years admitting
analysis) about i to 80, etc., etc. The real
mortality was probably higher, say 1-5 %,
or even 2 % in certain districts. The modern
rate is i in 250.

Register 99

Every register shows
Years of ....

years or periods of excessive
Excessive x ,./

Mortality *<*«&*> ^ '593-5,

1602-3, 1625, 1631,1637-44,

1657-8, 1665, 1680-3, I7I3~6» I727-3°> etc-
All these times, extracted from a study of
many registers, coincide with the prevalence
of some known historic epidemic, which
affected nearly the whole kingdom,
there were also local epidemics. Refer-
ence to u Creigh ton's Epidemics" will help
an investigator to surmise or fix the cause
of the high death rate in certain years. It
must be borne in mind that an epidemic
never affected the whole of the kingdom at
one time, but travelled over it, affecting
districts at some distance from its origin at
a later date, e.g., the plague which ravaged
London and the South in 1593-5, ravaged
the North in 1596-7. The study of the
years of extra burials in different registers
will enable one to trace the course of an
epidemic over the kingdom.

ioo The Parish

Platfue In early registral times

the eastern or bubonic

plague was trie dreaded scourge, deaths from
this cause are often indicated in a register.
In Penrith the average of burials was 40 to 50
per annum ; the plague appeared, and in 1597
there were 202 burials, in 1598 there were
592, of which 565 were plague, and then in
1599 there were only 19 burials. On Sept.
22nd, 1597, is the entry of burial of Andrew
Hodgson, a stranger, followed by the note
" Here began the plague, God's punish-
ment in Penrith."

In parish history the prevalence of an
epidemic may explain the decline or tempo-
rary eclipse of the prosperity of a place, owing
to depopulation, rise in the poor rates, avoid-
ance of the district by strangers, and con-
sequent crippling of the financial resources,
etc., e.g., in 1665 Fenny Stratford lost in a
few weeks about half its inhabitants from
plague, as the place was situated on the

Register 101

London to Chester road, Watling Street,
the most important high-way in England,
travellers avoided it, the stream of traffic
was diverted through Woburn ; and Fenny
Stratford, which depended for its existence
upon the wayfarers who used its inns, lost
its trade and for several years was ruined by
the loss of custom (see Bletchley Register) .

A marked rise in the
Malaria in * ,* . .,.,., j ,

death rate is exhibited by

all registers during 1657-9,
when malaria was both general and fatal. In
1658, Cromwell died from it. During
1710-16 a rise in the annual death rate is
manifested, caused by influenza. Hearne
refers to it " .... I call it a feaverett, it
being a small fever, that at this time goes
all over England. It seizes suddenly, and
holds generally but three days "

T „ During the period

Influenza in

I727~30 there was a very

great increase in the annual

102

The Parish

number of deaths, it is not uncommon to
find a comment on it in a register, e.g.,
Great Hampton calls 1728 "L,ethifer Annus,"
etc. Influenza spread from the Continent
in 1728. Chambers, in " Domestic Annals
of Scotland," writes: — " A cold and a cough,
with fever laid hold of nearly every person,
sometimes in a moment, as they stood on
their feet, and in some cases attended with
raving." In Selattyn Register it is noted,
1727, sickly time ; 1728 (Aug.), a very sickly
season ; 1729 (April), corn very dear — a very
sickly time ; July, the sickness continues.

In 1782 the u 'flue '' was again prevalent,
and mention is made of it in Selattyn with
the remark " which happily was not very
mortal, .... scarcely one escaped this dis-
temper."

Smallpox Smallpox was always

prevalent in this country,

but its ravages were eclipsed by the plague.

Since the disappearance of the latter in 1666

Register 103

the former reigned supreme as the most
deadly foe to life and health in these islands,
until vaccination scotched it first and con-
quered it afterwards. Mention of this disease
is common in the registers. It was endemic,
and local outbreaks were common, e.g., at
Burnham, in 1768, there were 78 deaths,
including 30 from smallpox. The horror
and terror with which it was regarded are
evidenced by many an entry.

1695. Mary, the daughter of Thomas
Willis, Esq., and Alice, his wife,
was buried 7th June. (Calverton.)

This was a sister of the antiquary,
Dr. Browne Willis. In 1724 Sir Holland
Egerton, writing to Dr. B. Willis, con-
gratulates him on the recovery of his children
from smallpox, ua happiness I should highly
prize."

Except the diseases iust
Deaths from . * .*- -

_.. . mentioned, the cause of a

Violence

death is seldom registered

unless from violence. Specimens are : —

104 The Parish

1729. July 1 7th. Richard Cowper agricola
tonitru et fulgore occisus, bur.
(Hackness.)

1790. April i6th. Sard d. of John & Jane
Jones. Chin cough, bur. (Selattyn.)

1795. June 5th. John Beadle. Mercurial
application, bur. (Merstham.)

„. . , Few Registers are with-

Historical

References out some ^ference, either
direct or indirect, to the
general history of the realm, and in those
places where great events have happened,
the references are many and full, e.g., Ber-
wick-on-Tweed teams with entries relating
to soldiers. But it is in small and unim-
portant villages that this class of entry has
its chief value, as demonstrating filaments
of connection with great events, thus bring-
ing home to every corner of the kingdom
a sense of national unity and share in stirring
deeds. Many books, especially in the earlier
years, date by the regnal year of the monarch.
Walton, for instance, indicates 1602 as " Finis

Register 105

Regni Elizabeths Reginae," and 1603
" Initium Regni Jacobi." Clyst St. George
styles 1649, " Anno imo post decollationem
Regis Caroli primi ; " and so each year to
1660, which is styled " Anno i2mo Caroli
Regis secundi." The death of the King is
not infrequently entered, Fenny Stratford
and Little Brickhill record the demise of
George II.

Selattyn enters the deaths of Elizabeth,
James I., Charles I., who " suffered martyr-
dom upon a scaffold," George I., " of an
apoplectick fit at Osnaburg," and Queen
Caroline in 1737.

References to the Civil
References TX7 , , _,

War abound. Bruton re-

°°rds in l625 tha the King

CiYil War

" herd a sarmon in Brewe-

ton Church, preached by the Bishop of Bath
and Wells, from the text ' Let God arise
and let his enimies be scattered.' " In 1642
the same register records in verse a defeat

106 The Parish

of the Parliament Army, and notes in
1644 a visit of the King and Prince, and in
1660 the Restoration. The persecution of
the Catholic Church is often mentioned ; as
in Rowington, 1655 — 1662, "by usurped
authority these many yeares wrested wrong
fully out of my liueing." In 1643 Hopton
Castle register : " Mar. I3th : Occisi fuere
29 in castro Hoptoniensis inter quos Hen-
ricus Gregorye, Senex, et comeraneus meus."
In Little Brickhill, 1642, Agnes Potter, of
Dunstable, wounded at the battle of Edge
Hill, was buried November 3Oth. Burials of
single, nameless soldiers are common during
this period.

The alteration of the
Alteration ^ -, -, i_ ,1 A

Calendar by the Act 24,
of the ^ J .

Calendar Geo* IL> c* 23j 1S commonly
noticed, but not invariably,

some registers continuing the old style for a
few months, and then adapting to the new
style without comment. The correcting

Register 107

took place officially on the 2nd Sept., 1752,
the following day becoming the i4th. Russia
is now the only country adhering to the old
style. Westbury enters, Edaw. Troutbeck,
vicar, bur. yth Oct., 1752 new style, 26th
Sept. old Style.

u B • f » The system of collection

of funds for the relief of
distress by " Briefs" (now replaced by the
Mansion House Fund), also acquainted rural
populations with some of the events occur-
ring in the outside world. Briefs with the
amount collected on them are often found
entered in the register. In Calverton book
are entered, among others, briefs for : —
1670, Captives in Algiers (this would in-
form inland people that Algerine pirates
occasionally landed in England, robbed,
ravaged and carried away captives for the
sake of ransom). In 1679, for building the
Cathedral of St. Paul; in 1689 for persecuted
Irish Protestants, "Madame Bennet, with all
her wealth, nothing ! " etc.

io8 The Parish

Historical Other historical illustra-

Illustrations tions are : —

A.D. 1595. This tyme was a great goinge
into Ireland against the Earl of
Tyrone the clergey payed deerly.
It cost the Vicar of Aston xxli
marks. ( Aston -juxta- Birming-
ham.)

1605. Bur. Old Mr. Greene, of Castle
Bromwich, a true professor of the
Gospell, and p'secuted in Queene
Marie's tyme for his religion, 25th
Feb. (Aston-juxta-Birmingham.)

Bruton mentions in 1624 the departure
of men from that parish to the siege of Breda.

Stoke Hammond mentions Thomas Lorkin
(1624) " He was employed in
France in sollicking the French
marriage and was drowned on his
return."

In Portsmouth register is the entry in 1662
of the marriage of Charles II.

In Yarm parish register is entered the
burial in Feb., 1746, of Thos. Brown, ye

Register 109

Dragoon. (This was the valiant soldier who,
in 1743, at Dettingen, recaptured the British
Standard, which had fallen into the hands
of the French ; he was then 25 years old.
In retaking the flag he slew several men and
received, as he cut his way through the
French, about a dozen wounds. The King
bestowed a pension on him of £30 a year.)

In Bincombe register, 1801, are entered
the burials of two German soldiers, shot
for desertion from the York Hussars ; and in
S. Sepulchre's, Northampton, in 1806, are
the burials of six soldiers of the German
Legion. These entries show that in times
of stress the kingdom needed the service of
foreign soldiers.

Winslow records : — 2Oth Nov., 1830.
William Ovitts buried. (He was the second
man enlisted in Elliott's Light Dragoons
in 1758. At the battle of Frey burgh, the
Prince of Brunswick was captured by French
Dragoons. Ovitts, single handed, rescued

no

The Parish

the Prince, and killed three of his captors,
but was badly wounded himself. The
Prince had him cared for and gave him
100 guineas. After leaving the army he
lived at Winslow, and the Duke of Bucking-
ham and Chandos settled on him a pension
of i/- a day.)

1805. Feb. 22nd. Buried James Robinson
(wounded at Fontenoy.) (Keyn-
sham.)

At the last reminiscence of warlike glory
there rises a vision of heroic grandeur, for
here was no excitement of charge nor whirl-
wind of rushing horse, that stately, unhurried
and deadly parade of silent, scarlet-clad
infantry with shouldered arms up the mile-
long natural glacis of Fontenoy, through
front and cross-fires towards an invisible foe.
The arrival at the French trenches, the
scornful invitation of Lord Charles Hay that
the French should fire first, and then the
hitherto shouldered muskets were levelled,

Register

and with crash upon crash the disciplined
volleys rolled from end to end of the scarlet
line, carrying annihilation to the opposing
ranks.

These men left their homes by the
hundred and straggled back, maimed and
enfeebled, by twos and threes. The majority
died in foreign lands. " They lay aloft, put
to sleep with swords." Their names are
forgotten.

As a general statement, we may say that
every "Englishman there had his native
parish, was baptised in his parish church
and entered in its book. " But some there
be which have no memorial." The time,
place and manner of their heroic death is
written in no record, and their names in no
Parish Register.

BRADBROOK.
BUCKS.

112

Index

INDEX IvOCORUM.

PAGE

Bedfordshire, Apsley ... 47

,, Dunstable 106

,, Roxton ... 96

Berkshire, Bisham 13, 47, 69

Buckinghamshire ... 84

„ Bletchley 28, 38, 48

55, 82, 83, 93

95, 98, 101

,, Burnham ... 103
,, Calverton

16, 30, 103, 107
,, Chesham ... 36
,, Ditton ... 83

,, Eton ... 28, 38
,, Farnham

12, 49, 50, 75
,, Fenny Stratford

100, 101, 105

„ Great Brickhill 86
,, Great Marlow 13
,, High Wycombe

52i 70, 84
„ Little Brickhill

22, 53 57, 66, 68
75- 83, 90, 105, 106
,, Loughton ... 84
„ Olney ... 94

,, Pitchcott ... 22
„ Shenley ... 24

PAGE

Buckinghamshire —

,, Simpson ... 82
,, Stoke Hammond

25, 30, 54, 69, 108
, , Stony Stratford

24, 35, 62, 83
,, Thornton 79, 85
,, Upton-cum-

Chalvey 83

,, Walton ... 104

,, Wavendon

47, 81, 92, 93, 95

,, Westbury 69, 107

,, Whaddon 16, 24

,, Winslow 109, no

,, Woburn ... 101

,, Woughton 36, 83

Cheshire, Overchurch ... 85

Upton ... 85

Cumberland, Penrith ... 100

Derbyshire, Ashford ... 45

Devon, Clyst St. George

59, 68; 105

,, Okehampton ... 51
Dorset, Bere Hacket ... 37
,, Bincombe ... 109
,, Lydlinch ... 41

,, Tarrant Hinton

30, 35> 39, 40, 60

Index

PAGE

Durham, Bishop Middleham
12, 24, 28, 40, 93, 95, 96
97,98

Essex, West Hanningfield 50
Gloucestershire, Bitton

12, 33, 42

,, Gloucester ... 48

,, Upton ... 12

Hampshire, Portsmouth 108

Herefordshire, Canon Frome

37, 70

,, Ledbury 29, 39, 56
58, 78, 89

,, Munsley ... 79

,, Sarnesfield ... 41

Hertfordshire, Moor Park 77

Kent, Boughton-under-Blean

26, 41, 43, 67

,, Margate ... ... 80

,, Newenden

18, 57, 65, 67
Leicestershire,

Loughborough 77

,, Lutterworth 22

,, Misterton 22, 89

Lincolnshire, Coleby ... 85

,, Grantham ... 13

,, Lincoln ... 85

,, Moulton 65, 95

,, Wickenby ... 44

London .. 23, 70, 71, 87

,, Allhallows,

Lombard Str. 47
,, "Bishop Blaize and
Two Sawyers" 21
„ Bethnal Green 69. 70
,, "Bull and Garter "21
,, " Fighting Cocks" 21

PAGE

London. Fleet ... 18,21
,, Foundling Hospital

71,72
,, " Hoop and Bunch

of Grapes" 21
,, Mayfair Chapel 21
„ Newgate ... 37
„ "Old Bayly"... 18
„ 'Plow"' ... 18
,, St. George's,

Hanover Square 23
,, St. James,

Duke Place 19, 20
,, St. Martin-in-the-

Fields 76
„ St. Martins,

Ludgate 84

„ St. Pancras ... 35
,, " Seriante Head " 37
,, Spitalfields ... 70
,, Trinity Parish,

Minories 20
,, Westminster Abbey

,, " Wheatsheaf " 21
Northamptonshire,Finedon 46
,, Northampton 68, 109
Northumberland,

Berwick-upon-Tweed

79, 82, 104

,, Edlingham 40, 87, 97
Nottinghamshire, Headon

15,27

,, Newark-on-Trent 57
,, Uptcn ... ... 15

„ Walesbury ... 85
Radnorshire, Glasbury

36, 54, 76, 77

Index

PAGE

Rutland, North Luffenham

40, 68, 70

Scotland, Gretna Green 23

Pipton ... 77

Talgarth ... 54

„ Whitburn ... 40

Shropshire, Alberbury ... 83

„ Clunbury ... 90

„ Harley 75, 82

„ Hopton Castle

36, 64, 1 06
„ Melverley

24, 83, 87
„ Moreton Corbet

41, 42

„ Pitchford ... 85
„ Ryton ... 79
„ Selattyn

36, 40, 102, 104

„ Shipton 12, 39

„ Sibdon Carwood

60

„ Smethcote 42

Somerset, Bruton 26, 39, 42

52, 53. 56, 105, 1 08

„ Keynsham 57, no

Staffordshire 80

., Freeford,Lichfielcl52

Suffolk, Ipswich II, 18,26,60

Surrey, Banstead 37, 40, 45

„ Frensham ... 41

., Haslemere 41, 85

„ Merstham 16, 24, 51

57, 78, 87, 104

Wales, Llandysilio ... 87

PAGE
Warwickshire, Aston-juxta-

Birmingham 108

„ Castle Bromwich 108

,, Lowsonford ... 27

„ Rowington 27, 41

52, 59, 67, 106

„ Sohhull ... 54

„ Stratford-on-Avon 12

26,40,59,69,71,85

„ Weddington ... 22

West Indies 94

Wiltshire, Morden 37, 77
Worcestershire, Bishamj>ton

„ Bradley Green 91
„ Churchill 24, 43, 54
„ Cropthorne 29, 43

. 59,95,98

„ Dodderhill 13, 27
„ Fladbury ... 29
„ Huddington ... 35
„ Inkberrow 12, 27

4i> 7o, 93, 94
„ Kington 32, 35

,, Rous Lench ... 60
„ Stoke Prior

33, 56, 66, 85
„ Upton Snodsburie 23
„ Worcester ... 23
Yorkshire, Hackness ... 104
„ Kirk Ella 27, 41, 75
„ Monk Fryston

14, 37, 44

„ Tanchill ... 14

„ Yarm , ,. 108

Index

INDEX NOMINUM,

PAGE

Abercorn

71

Brooke ...

Allison ...

15

Brough . . .

All-the-World

69

Brown . .

Anderson

12

Buddie ...

Apdauyd

56

Bug

Ashpole ...

75

Bunny ..

Awad

73

Bush

Baker ...

32

Butler ..

Bam ford

23

Byng

Barnford

66

Carpenter

Barrett ...

32

Cartwright

Battington

56

Castle . . .

Bayley ...

3°» 37

Chambers

Bayly ...

32

Chapman

Beadle ...

104

Chattereau

Beament

35

Clarke

Beaufort, Duchess of 35

Clovill

Bedford ...

12, 71

Coaman

Benbow ...

72

Cock

Benge

16, 17

Cocke

Bennet ...

107

Collett

Bentinck

7i

Combes

Biggs ...

29

Cooke

Blake ...

51

Cooper

Blyke ...

29

Cope

Boscawen

72

Corbet

Bowchier (and variants) 59
Bradbrook (and variants) 60

Counde
Cowper

Briant ...

42

Cromwell

PACK

• 33
. 27
,. 108
. 44

• 73
. 79

• 57
. 47

• 72
. 41
. 84

. 12

. 40

. 65

. 76

. 14

• 50

41
23

70

104

n6

Inde

x

Cuthbert

PAGE PAGR

... 36 Govver (and variants) ... 59

Daniel

... 16 Graye ... . ... 97

Dannet ...

... 51 Green

... 24

Daundelyon

... 80 Greene ...

... 108

Dauys ...
David

... 29 Gregory ...
... 54 Grimesell

... 81
... 41

Davies

... 83 Grissold ...

... 52

Davis

... 41 Hadon ...

... 13

Dayrell

... 20 Hall

• 42, 57, 85

DelaHay

... 36 Hamilton

... 72

Demock ...

... 85 Hardinge

... 12

Dingley (and variants)
Dipple .

29, 59 Harnage
... 66 Harper ...

... 82

... 79

Dodd .

... 24 Harris ...

... 12

Dolben .

. . . 46 Harrison

••• 37

Downes .

... 42 Haswell ...

... 12

Dulau

... 73 Hawkins

... 42

Dyott .

... 52 Heath ...

... 37

Egerton .

.. 103 Hemming (and v

a iants) 60, 70

Elton .

... 29 Henbury

... 36

Erdeswyke

... 80 Hendley

... 78

Estebroke

50, 51 Hendly ...

... 78

Etheridge

... 98 Hewett ...

... 35

Ethridge

... 98 Hingsberg

... 47

Evans

42, 75 Hobbey ...

... 13

Fauxe ...

12 Hodgson

... 100

Finlow ...

... 90 Hold ...

... 90

Fitzharding, Viscount

... 51 Honner ...

... 82

Foster

... 24 Honor ...

... 82

Fowler

... 1 6 Hopkins

... 86

Frewin

... 68 Hopton ...

... 70

Froome

... 37 How

... 47

Fry

... 30 Howard ...

72, 73

Fynney ...

... 79 Howells ...

... 85

Geyles

... 67 Howes ...

18

Glanviel ...

... 85 Howett ...

... 87

Gooses

... 43 Hummer

... 42

Gostley ...

... 53 Hunt

12, 27

Index

117

PAGE

Hurley ...
Hutcheson

18
28

Money ...
Morphew

Hutton ...

49

More ...

Hyde ...

72

Morton ...

Inchboard

49

Munday ...

Inglby ...
Isaack . .

49
36

Mynshaw
Nash ...

Jackson . .

40

Nelson ...

James . .

90

Neville ...

Jauncey . .

79

Newenden

Johnson . .

77, 85

Newman

Jones . .

42, 104

Nicholls ...

Juce . .

67

Norman ...

Jurden . .

12

Norris ...

Kelburne

12

Norwood

Keynsham

57

Note ...

Kightley

29

Odall ...

King

.. 66

Odill ...

Kitriche ...

26

Ovitts ...

Knatchbull

45

Palmer ...

Knockstone

62

Parker ...

Laishly ...

33

Parrarde

Lake ...

45

Parret ...

Lassels ...

49

Pay ton ...

Lawson ...

82

Peerce ...

Liew

16

Pell

Lomax ...

78

Pierse

Longsden

96

Pigot

Lorkin ...

108

Potter ...

Lyde ...

43

Pretty ...

Magnus ...

57

Priest ...

Martin ...

55

Purfery . . .

Maultyne

54

Quyny ...

Mazon ...

24

Randall ...

Michael ...

76

Roberts ...

Middleton

49

Robins ...

Mills ...

Robinson

Monday ...

..! 87

Rogers ...

n8

Index

Russell, Lord J.

Sands, Lady

Savye

Scott 5<

Shakspere (and variants)

12,26,27,40,59,71,86

Shaw

Sheldon ...

Sisly

Skeath

Small wood

Smith (and variants)

33- 42, 60, 61.
Smithers

Southall

Stevenson

Stowel

Styles

Talbot, Lord ...
Tandy ...

Tanner

Tasker

Taylor

Tokelowe

Tomkins

Tompson

Trash

Troutbeck

AGE

PAGE

13

Turner ...

41

29

Tyrone, Earl of

- ... 108

65

Tyrrell ...

... 79

,82

Underwood

.. 56

Vaughan

- 36

[,86

Walcheman

.. 56

15

Walker ...

20

92

Ward ...

.. 14

18

Wastnes

.. 27

15

Water ...

12

38

Webb ...

•• 37

Webster

.. 58

t;65

Wells ...

27,28

45

Welshe ...

... 26

32

Wesley ...

... 52

4i

West ...

... 69

24

William I.

... 34

83

Williams

... 76

35

Willis ...

... 103

43

Willoughbey

... 13

58

Windum

... 20

23

Wing ...

... 70

40

Wittens ...

... 12

ii

Wood ...

75»76

47

Woodcock

... 85

75

Wookke ...

... 53

69

Wright ...

... 40

107

:T LIBRARY.

Authors
GERALD FOTHERG
. JOSIAH NEWMAN,

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. W. G. D. FLETCHE

. ALFRED STAPLED

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. PERCEVAL LUCAS

u:
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OQ

§

O

. P. C. RUSHEN

. WM. BRADBROOK

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